Lincoln senior running back Demetrius Williams leaps to reach the ball over the goal line against Lowell on Friday at Lowell High School. (Photo by Michael Mack)

By Josh Levine

Lincoln High School senior running back Demetrius Williams had 138 yards and four touchdowns on 14 carries to lead the Mustangs to a 54-14 road victory over Lowell to wrap up the Academic Athletic Association season.

Williams had scores of 8, 55, 11 and 28 yards, and finished the season with a AAA-high 1,034 rushing yards, despite losing out on two games worth of potential carries due to opposing teams forfeiting.

“He’s a hell of a player,” said Lincoln head coach Phil Ferrigno. “God gave him a bigger heart than everyone else, and he’s only 150 pounds. He really knows how to run. All I did was teach him how to be a man out there.”

The win capped an undefeated AAA season for the Mustangs (9-1, 6-0) and they will carry the league’s top seed into the playoffs, where they will take on Lowell again next week.

After forcing Lincoln to punt on its opening possession, Lowell (4-5, 3-3) took an early 6-0 lead on a 10-minute, 14-play scoring drive that ended with a 35-yard touchdown run by quarterback Will Frankel.

On the next play from scrimmage, Lincoln senior running back Giovanni Catalan broke off a 80-yard touchdown run to give the Mustangs a 7-6 lead they would not relinquish.

“That touchdown [by Lowell] woke us up,” Williams said. “Our defense can’t let them have it. [If] they want some, they have to earn it the same way we have to.”

The Mustangs went on to score 30 unanswered points in the second quarter and held a 40-6 lead at the halftime break.

“We did it to ourselves and we’ll get to see them again,” said Lowell head coach Danny Chan. “With how our offense is . . . when we fall behind, we have to go to stuff that we don’t do regularly. It was a good drubbing for us and hopefully we play better [next week].”

Excluding their first possession, the Cardinals struggled to get anything going offensively. While both teams ran 41 offensive plays, Lowell was held to 183 yards and Lincoln ran for 367. Senior running backs Michael McCarthy and William Kim led the double-wing Lowell attack with 65 combined yards on 21 carries.